Two Cents and a Thousand Words

Tomorrow I’ll be heading down to the MDI/Schoodic area (again). It’s become a standby for any time I need to get away from campus and relax for a day. I’m electing to completely skip Geocaching on this trip to just completely relax and enjoy the scenery; I also want to take lots of pictures with my new 256 MB CompactFlash card and A60.

I’ve wondered if these trips do me any good, and if going to a different place would be better. Coincidentally, Caroline and I were talking to our professor about photography a little today in our psych class, and she said something that really made sense: she’s moved past the “shoot everything, no matter how well it’s composed” to the “artsy” stage. I see Acadia as sort of a study; my pictures, I think, reflect how I understand the place now. I think I’ve made four or five photography trips down there since last summer, and each has been better than the last. (That would actually make a really great comparison series.) This time, though, I hope that I don’t continue the trend of breaking digital cameras at Schoodic.

(As a side note, I like going down there in part because three of my top five or six favorite places are there: Schoodic Point, Otter Point, and Bass Harbor Light).

I’m not scared of a lot of things; moths always bugged me when I was younger, but that’s pretty much calmed down, and my fear of nighttime thunderstorms has gone away. I’m more of a startled or nervous person. It probably has to do with the fact that I’ve really always loved science, and I think there’s a logical explanation for mostly everything. So sure, I might hear some creaks when I’m in the library alone, but I go and check it out to see where the old bookcase or pipe is.

Let me get one thing straight before I keep going: I don’t like to talk about religion on here. I’m not even going to get into my views, other than saying that I guess I could be considered mildly religious (ie, there is a God). To me the details aren’t important. Listen to Serendipity in Dogma: “It’s not about who’s right or wrong. No denomination’s nailed it yet, and they never will because they’re all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn’t matter what you have faith in, just that you have faith.”

Whoever first came up with the idea that what is unknown or different to people was a genius. That’s one scientific reasoning of why religion had such a big part of peoples’ lives in the past; they couldn’t explain what was going on around them. How could someone explain a thunderstorm other than by saying that it was a result of angering the Gods?

People two hundred years ago would’ve had a heck of a time explaining what I saw what I looked to the skies last night. It was like a movie; it was exactly what you think about when you read a story about “the sky burning” in a fire of red. There would be no way for people of the past to realize that a blip on the surface of the sun sent two billion tons of plasma our way; it must have been extremely scary for them.

That’s not to say that I wasn’t scared looking up last night; I was. I was scared because I didn’t know the answers to a lot of questions. Anyone know me well enough to know what I do when I don’t know the answers to something? I look ‘em up. The difference this time is that it seems nobody has all the answers yet; there are still a lot of unknowns about solar science. My gut reaction to a CME-related aurora bypassed the “oooh, how pretty” feeling; I went right to the unknowns. Could a charge like this disrupt or destroy the magnetic field on Earth? What would happen if there was no magnetic field? What if CME radiation reached Earth’s surface? Is something “wrong” with the sun, or could this be bad for us?

The question part lasted for a couple of minutes, and then I biked to one of the darker places on campus and looked up. It was amazing; I could see the entire “rays” of light slowly drifting across the sky and changing color. I figured that whatever happened, I’d enjoy this while it lasted.

And so I sit here today, still a little unsure of what actually has been happening over the last week or so and what it means to me. I can safely say I was scared on Halloween (well, the eve), but at the same time I was truly amazed. I don’t know if I’ll ever see anything like that again.

Lots of links that I’ve used to start understanding what’s going on:

• NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (be sure to check out the Not-So-Frequently Asked Questions and Terms, Concepts, and Definitions in the Classroom section)
• Solar Flare Theory at Goddard Space Flight Center (a nice run-through of the basics of the subject)
• Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (more great stuff from the people at Haa’vad)
• Spaceweather.com (the latest on what’s happening in space)
• October 2003 Aurora Gallery (pictures of what’s happened this month, mostly over the last few days – more than one page! unfortunately, my pictures didn’t come out)

Enjoy, and happy Halloween!

Between acts at the show last night, I took some time to absorb the atmosphere at the concert. My mission: find a way to create a site for Bumstock that recreates that atmosphere and pulls students in. Bumstock’s lost some ground over the last years; it’s not as much of an event as it used to be, according to some. I’m thinking that a site could change that if it was done well; but is there a way to do that? There has to be. The site should be the Bumstock site, not a site about Bumstock. There’s a difference, no matter how small. That small detail is what makes all the difference.

If you’d like to read about what the Maine Campus has to say about the festival so far, check out the story. Feel free to use spicedham@mainesites.net as the registration e-mail address if it asks you for verification.

“This is the reddest room I’ve seen in my life… I don’t know if I should feel hungry or horny.” – Gavin DeGraw, after starting to perform at the MCA

I’ve been a fan of Maroon 5 for a while now – longer than most fans who heard “Harder to Breathe” on the radio and decided it would be a good idea to start listening to these guys. Songs About Jane is amazing, and I can now safely say that their concert performances easily match that.

The band came to the Maine Center for the Arts to perform with opening acts Michael Tolcher and Gavin DeGraw. Both bands were great lead-ins to the main set, and Gavin was able to really get the audience into the concert. I personally saw at least five people around me come back after his set with CDs (in some cases signed) in their hands. His songs rang true with many of the students at the concert, and the excitement of both his band and the audience was very clear. Both openers seemed to be very open to the fans, and they loved the opportunity to talk and sign CDs and anything else after they played.

Maroon 5 played a full set to a standing crowd, followed by a three-song encore. Leading off with my personal favorite song (”This Love”), they continued through Songs and played a “new” song, “Wasted Years”. “Harder to Breathe” got everyone moving, rocking, and singing, and songs like “Sunday Morning” and “Not Coming Home” were simply amazing. Adam, James, Jesse, Mickey, and Ryan had an incredible amount of energy throught the entire show and really showed that they loved playing.

There’s the story you’ll read in the papers.

There’s really no way to put an amazing show into words; the only people who will know are the ones who were actually there. The MCA is home to some great performances – ballets, plays, orchestras… and its seating arrangement recognizes the high-class nature of the place. Its acoustics are awesome. Unfortunately, when you have a really loud rock band playing to a really loud audience, your ears start to hurt a bit. And let’s face it – you can’t sit down for a band that plays songs like “Tangled” and “Through with You” and is able to really engage the audience. The thousand-ish people there tonight were on their feet and moving like there weren’t any seats. Even the lighting conventions presented a bit of an obstacle; the operators wanted to dim the lights, but Adam and the band really wanted to see the fans. The band finally won.

I’ve been following Maroon 5 on MP3.com for a while, and I’ve downloaded four shows from the Live Music Archive by them. They do things right; they’re cool with having people share their music as long as they don’t sell it. It seems like they really love the fans, and that shows. You’ll hear a rant soon about copyright and the trouble it caused me tonight, but cheers to bands like Maroon 5 for being fair and loving what they do. If you get a chance, go see a Maroon 5 concert. If you can’t manage that, listen to them on MP3.com or buy Songs About Jane on Amazon.com or on the iTunes Music Store.

I’m going to bed very, very happy.

Now that I actually have a couple spare minutes to write (and breathe, and trust me, it’s getting harder and harder to do that lately), I’m thinking about what I want out of this blog.

Not a lot of people understand the concept of blogging, just like not a lot of people get why anyone would ever want a webcam. I see blogging as a democratized form of media; it’s a way for people to express their views in their own way. I’ve always thought that collectively that’s a very powerful resource… potentially, at least.

So. Basically, I’m a 20-year-old college kid from Maine. On the surface, I probably seem like I don’t have much to offer; same as the 14-year-old from Colorado or the 28-year-old single mom from Florida or England. And to tell you the truth, I don’t – so far, at least. Blogging started as a way to log the web (flip it around and whaddya got, blog!), and it slowly/quickly turned into a phenomenon of people talking about their pets, their life, and how they like to walk in the rain.

I for one don’t think there should be some arbitrary standard for blogs; some personal day-by-day blogs are really great to read. On the other hand, I think the age-old standard of “here’s a link and here’s what I think about it” has its place. I think something’s missing from that, though.

I propose that blogging should be used to convey one’s area of expertise. In a way, that’s how it started; people “good at” the Web would talk about the best of what was out there. One of my favorite blogs – one from a guy I might meet in November named Larry – is a great example of how blogging can be extended into a new realm. After a while, it turns into an archive of first-person knowledge. Lessig undoubtedly has one of the most recognized names and occupations in the Internet/new media industry, but I truly feel that value from a blog can come from a much more diverse crowd. Think of Iraq citizens and American journalists blogging from Iraq. Think of teachers and graduate students talking about what they’re doing for work. Think of a student who is trying to learn about a world that’s changing every day.

Should I be like Larry? Why try? I don’t by any stretch of the imagination have a large audience. I doubt many people are interested in hearing from a Maine college student. On top of all that, I know some readers don’t like long posts. Or maybe, just maybe – [gasp] – people might disagree with me on something. Half the time anyone says anything about my blog it’s just making fun of some stupid thing I said on here.

I’m starting to realize more and more, though, that I don’t blog for readers. Blogging is an online journal in the strange nature of online communication. Writing has always comforted me, and it’s always given me an outlet to express what I feel. In some cases, I’m alone in that. In some cases, I have some pretty unpopular views. I don’t think that should stop me, though, and that’s what makes blogging wonderful. I have ideas. I have views. Not everything in my life will be posted here, but I think a fair amount could be of some use to someone, someday. I’ll face facts; I’ve been holding back. I’d love to do a “column” about what’s going on at UMaine, or about what I think about some legislation or something. It’s a lot easier, though, to put up something about the Red Sox than the latest challenge to the DMCA.

I’ll still have some fun/stupid posts, but I want to throw in a lot of analysis or pure ideas, too. And from now on, if you don’t agree, post a comment or e-mail me. Democracy isn’t just about hearing different views from different people; it’s about sharing ideas and, sometimes, starting a debate and stumbling through a gray area.

Hi. I’m Justin Russell. I work at ASAP Media Services, I’m working on the Pool as an independent study, I go to college at UMaine, I love photography, and I have about 10 projects I’m starting to work on for myself. Who knows, maybe I’m the next Larry – but nobody ever will know if I don’t say anything.

I’d like to announce with great joy that there’s once again a justinrussell.com blog RSS feed. Please note the updated URL. Thanks to NetNewsWire Lite for my renewed interest in RSS. This isn’t some crappy three-word abstract RSS feed, either… it’ll load the pictures and the formatting right in. Pretty cool, actually.

For my friends not in Maine, I’ll tell you this: the first snowfall of the winter is one of the most enjoyable times of the year (even if you don’t like snow).

Half of the people around here about an hour ago were cursing and swearing when they looked out their window. The other half were literally yelling and cheering. I happen to be in the second group. It’s been snowing for about an hour with a little accumulation, but not much… but that’s not really important.

I like snow because it gets the image of the bare tree limbs out of my head. Fall is beautiful, but the time between fall and winter (read: now) is depressing: everything looks dead. Snow brightens the landscape, and it makes everything look more lively.

Not to mention it creates beautiful pictures.

If you include work, existing sites, and active concepts, I have ten sites that I’m currently working on right now. Or I would have, if I had time.

P.S.: I’m beginning to learn I’m not very good at accepting compliments. Maybe I should start being a little less hard on myself.

Apple released iTunes for Windows today, complete with the iTunes Music Store.

Download it.

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

I haven’t walked to class in a good rainstorm for a really, really long time.

Getting soaked through your pants (and your raincoat) is fun. Seriously. What’s even more fun is watching everyone else try to hold their umbrellas upright in the wind while you’re not even wearing a hood.